Corto Maltese is sailor adventurer character of Italian cartoonist Hugo Pratt.

Corto Maltese (lit. short Maltese) is a nominally landless sailor whose exploits are placed around the beginning of the 20th century (1900-1920s). He is a treasure-hunter with a heart of gold and tolerance for most people in the world. Born in Valletta on July 10, 1887, he is a son of a British sailor from Cornwall and a gypsy witch from Gibraltar and carved a new life line to his palm when he was dissatisfied with the lack of the original.

Corto Maltese debuted in the novel-length tale Una ballata del mare salato (Ballad of the Salty Sea, 1967) about WW1-era Pacific Islands where he was one of the protagonists. 1970 Pratt begun to write shorter Corto Maltese stories to French Pif magazine. In 1974 he switched back to novel-length stories and the first full album sent Corto to 1918 Siberia (Corto Maltese en Siberie).

Chronologically, first Corto Maltese story happens during the Russo-Japanese war. He sees the First World War from more than two sides, Russian Civil War after the October Revolution and the beginnings of the Fascist Italy. According to Pratt, he disappears during the Spanish Civil War but Pratt never wrote a tale to that effect. Still, he rarely takes any sides, trying to stay neutral.

Corto does not care about national, ideological and religious boundaries. He befriends people he finds sympathetic from all walks of life, including murderous Russian Rasputin (no relation), British heir Tristan Bantam, Voodoo priestess Gold Mouth and Jewish alchemist Steiner. He also knows and meets various historical figures during his adventures, including Jack London, Ernest Hemingway, Herman Hesse, Butch Cassidy, Russian White general Roman von Ungern-Sternberg and Enver Pasha of Turkey. His list of acquaintances is rather impressive, as he makes a telephone call to Josef Stalin when he is arrested, and threatened to be executed, at the border of Turkey and Armenia.

Corto Maltese stories range from straight historical adventure stories to occult dream sequences. He sees how Red Baron is shot down, helps Jivaros in South America and flees fascists in Venice but also unwittingly helps Merlin and Oberon to defend Britain and visits the lost continent of Mu.

There is an animation film based on the comic, made in 2002.

Corto Maltese novels

This is a list of the twelve Corto Maltese novels in the chronological order. Please note that the American publisher NBM took great liberties in translating the stories so not all the original albums are available in English and some NBM albums do not correspond to any French or Italian title. Where the adequate English translation is not available, the original titles are given first.

• 1905 The Early Years (the original French title: La Jeunesse; black and white 1981, colour 1985)
• 1913-1915 The Ballad of the Salt Sea (the original Italian title: Una Ballata del mare salato, black and white 1967-1969; In French: La Ballade de la Mer Salée, 1973-1974; colour 1991)
• 1916-1917 Sous le signe du Capricorne (black and white 1971; colour edition as - episodes 1 to 3 - Suite caraïbéenne, 1990; and - episodes 4 to 6 - Sous le drapeau des pirates, 1991)
• 1917 Corto toujours un peu plus loin (black and white 1970-1971, colour ?)
• 1917-1918 Les Celtiques (black and white 1971-1972, colour ?)
• 1918 Les Ethiopiques (black and white 1972-1973, colour ?)
• 1918-1920 Corto Maltese in Siberia (the original Italian title: Corto sconta detta Arcana, black and white 1974-1975; French title Corto Maltese en Sibérie, 1979)
• 1921 Fable of Venice (the original Italian title: Favola di Venezia - Sirat Al-Bunduqiyyah, black and white 1977; French title Fable de Venise, 1979, colour 1984)
• 1921-1922 The Golden House of Samarkand (published simultaneously in French and Italian as La Maison dorée de Samarkand/La casa dorata di Samarcanda, black and white 1980, colour 1992)
• 1923 Tango... y todo a media luz (the American, French and Italian editions use this Spanish title; first published in Italian, black and white 1985, colour 1987?)
• 1924 The Secret Rose (the original Italian title Elvetiche, colour 1987; French title Les Helvétiques, 1988). Sometimes also known in Italian as La rosa alchemica
• 1925 Mu (In Italian in 1988-1989, first part, and 1988-1989, second part. In French black and white and colour editions, both 1992).

Corto Maltese's adventures between 1916 and 1918 were published in the US by NBM as The Brazilian Eagle, Banana Conga, Voodoo for the President, A Mid-Winter Morning's Dream and Corto Maltese in Africa.

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The name Corto Maltese also appears in Frank Miller's graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns as the name of an island at the centre of an incident not unlike the Cuban missile crisis. The choice of name is apparently an inside joke as Miller has confessed to be a great admirer of Pratt's work. The island has been occasionally referenced in other DC Comics since.